Automation 2026

The US’ largest trade show was held June 22-25 at the McCormick center in Chicago. I didn’t attend last year’s in Detroit, but since I was working in Rockford the previous week, I decided to attend.

The show is huge! It covered both sides of the 3rd floor and over 50,000 people registered.

There are lots of robots, integrators and component vendors, but since I don’t work much with making stuff anymore, I wasn’t really in the market for anything. I WAS able to give David Garcia at PIAB a much-needed haircut with my tiny scissors (upper left).

A few things that caught my attention related to future projects: the Raspberry Pi and CODESYS booths, and Weintek, where my friend Nikki Gonzales works. Jimmy DiTraglia had an exhibit with Weintek, as did Vlad Romanov with Teguar. The Automation Ladies Alicia Gilpin (Ali G), Nikki, and Courtney Fernandez attended, along with Vinny Endres, John Piller, Tim and Amber Wilborne, Dylan Dufresne, Dave Griffith, Will Healy and many more not pictured.

For me the main reason for attending was the networking and meeting up with people I don’t get to see often. Jake Hall and Chris Leucke put on an awesome Blues Brothers themed event called Extra Innings at mHub, a makerspace/business incubator close to downtown, lots of familiar faces there also. I got to hang out and talk shop with Brandon Ellis and Butch Martin of Ellitek, and Ralf Opper with Livingston and Haven.

I’m really glad I was able to attend, but without having work nearby I’m not sure I would have gone. It can be a big expense in both time and money. Next year’s is in Las Vegas, I don’t imagine I will be there. But this one was fun for sure!